Lieutant Colonel Preston Packard is the leader of the military escort for the Monarch exploration of Skull Island and one of the two main antagonists (alongside Skull Devil) of the 2017 action adventure film Kong: Skull Island, the second installment in Legendary's MonsterVerse franchise.
Biography[]
During The Vietnam War, Packard was the commander of the helicopter squadron the Sky Devils, gaining a reputation as a war hero. After the end of the war, Packard experienced disillusionment with the military. Packard is recruited by Bill Randa for the expedition to Skull Island, along with his men. After dropping explosive charges on Skull Island, awakening the Skull Crawlers, Kong attacks the helicopters. When Packard’s helicopter crashes, he and the pilot Briggs survived. Packard gets out gets out fast but Briggs was trapped. Packard tries to save Briggs but kong grabs the helicopter with Briggs in it. Briggs fells off of the helicopter the landing kills him.
Packard discovers Earl Cole, Glenn Mills, Reles, Jerry, Steve, multiple soldiers, and Randa had survived as well and leads them to find his second in command, Major Jack Chapman. However, Packard has an ulterior motive; Chapman’s helicopter was carrying weapons, and Packard wants to kill Kong in revenge. While making their way to Chapman, they are attacked by a Mother Longlegs, which kills Jerry. Packard and the others manage to kill it. Packard’s group meets up with James Conrad, Mason Weaver, Reg Slivko, Hank Marlow, Houston Brooks, and San Lin, who had also survived (With the exception of Marlow, who had crashed on the island with Japanese soldier Gunpei Ikari during World War II).
The survivors are attacked by a Skull Crawler, killing Randa and multiple soldiers, though it is killed. Despite discovering that Chapman was killed by the Skull Crawler, rendering the whole mission pointless, Packard presses on and reveals his plans to kill Kong with the weapons from the crash site. Despite Weaver’s protests that Kong was simply trying to stop the Skull Crawlers and killing him would unleash the Skull Crawlers on the world, the bloodthirsty Packard leads his men to kill Kong by covering a lake in napalm and using it to set Kong on fire. Kong survives and Packard’s remaining men abandon him, realizing Packard is a madman who has prioritized revenge over the lives of others. Kong then rises and crushes Packard while Packard curses Kong.